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Friday, 24 January 2014

Tonight, whilst engaged in a wonderful twitter debate, I was inspired to write this blog. The twitter debate is normally facilitated by the inspirational @JaneParenting but tonight at the helm was the insightful author of War And Peas @JoCormack - a book about being more aware of emotions and eating. If you'd like to join Jane she holds an interesting twitter debate every Thursday at 8pm under the hashtag rchchat. Tonights hot topic led me to consider resilience in children. We often hear the term resilience and to me amongst others, it is key. Even the UK TV School-based Drama, Waterloo Road are including this as a key feature in their latest series.So what is resilience? Is it the ability to bounce back? Why do our children need
to be resilient? Is it because it will support them in the ‘now’ and in their
future? I think so. Do you?

As
a mum, I have encouraged my daughter to develop resilience. I am a Blossom Method and Attachment
parent and through our attachment she has gained a wonderful inner strength and outer strength.

In
her early years as she reached out to grab I encouraged her to explore for
herself. I never passed to her what she was reaching for I simply supported her
in her exploration and moved the object to a place she could reach it for
herself.

At
age two Blossom insisted upon entering into the world of Bollywood Dancing. So following her intuition and desires, my husband found a class and she began her journey into Bollywood at age three. He drove her every Sunday morning, the 60 mile round trip, where she continued on with this until she was 5 years old and she won the local Bollywood Championships! Sadly, the class was then closed.

When
she began to reach out even further we have been there. We have watched her insist
upon climbing very tall trees (age 4), and however frightening this was for me
(yes, me rather than my husband) I still allowed her to explore. We, of course,
supported her and made ourselves available as a ‘safety net’ if she needed us.
I’m sure many of you do these things as well. I am certain there are other
parents who simply cannot get over their own anxieties and as a result they
hover, like helicopters with their propellers of anxiety whizzing in fear!

During
all of these events something incredible happens to my body, and in particular
my womb. As I watch, encourage and secretly manage my own anxiety, my womb
goes into overdrive and flips sometimes to the point of nausea. It tells me
something. Something I always attune to. This is a powerful bodily expression
that I listen to even in the absence of my daughter, Blossom. A feeling I have
experienced often even if I cannot see her.

Recently
I was in the same building as my daughter and I was seated in a place I could
not see her. I felt a strong body sense and then my womb started flipping. I
immediately said to my husband and other people, there’s something wrong with
Blossom. She is crying. When I eventually reached her she was very upset and
distressed. How did my body know? Why did I follow my ‘womb’? I followed it
because I know it to be a reliable source. I followed it because Blossom and I
are so very attuned, emotionally and bodily. Why is this so? I really don’t
know but I do put some of this down to ‘The Blossom Method’ and as a result our
incredible attunement.

Somehow
(once I know she is safe), my womb settles its self back to a more comfortable
position and we all move on. In our house we call this a ‘womba’. You’ll often
hear Blossom saying, “Did I give you a ‘womba’ mummy? I’m curious do other
mum’s (and Dads) experience this in their bodies?

Do
you experience the ‘womba’ effect? If so, I’d love to hear your stories. Please
comment below and let’s encourage others to tune into their bodies and gather
more information about our children using the power of the ‘womba’ effect and the rest of our bodies.